Cycle racing track and artificial ice rink Frankfurt

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The cycle racing track and artificial ice rink in Frankfurt was a cycle racing track and, from 1960, also an open-air artificial ice rink in Frankfurt am Main . In 2002 the structure was demolished to create additional parking spaces for the Commerzbank-Arena .

history

Before the cycling track was built, cycling races took place in the Palmengarten from 1884, where there was also an ice rink, and later in the festival hall. In autumn 1921, an initiative to set up a cycling track was formed from representatives of civic cycling associations and the “Solidarity” working-class cycling association. Alongside the Waldstadion and the Stadionbad, the cycling track was one of three sports facilities in southwest Frankfurt that were built between 1922 and 1925. Just like the Waldstadion, the designs came from the horticultural master Max Bromme and the architect Gustav Schaumann based on technical designs from Richard Ludwig. Ludwig came up with the concept of a “Fliegerbahn” with a length of 400 m and a “Steherbahn” with a length of 416.67 m on one layout. The plant, which is mainly made of concrete, was carried out by Dykerhoff & Widmann . The entrance to the facility was on Mörfelder Landstrasse , and the building was entered through a tunnel in the portico. There was room for 20,700 + 1,337 people in the auditorium. The Opel family donated a bronze sculpture of the cyclist August Lehr (1867–1922) designed by the sculptor Emil Hub , which was placed at the entrance. The cycling track was opened on September 15, 1925 with a stayer race that attracted 20,000 spectators. The opening was thus shortly after the Workers' Olympics , which took place in July.

During the New Frankfurt era , the bronze sculpture was moved to the edge of the cycling track at the request of Fritz Wichert , as he rejected the antique design language as out of date.

During the Second World War, a bomb fell in the building. Erich Wick, the chairman of the cycling association Erich Wick, was able to procure 85 sacks of cement in 1946, so that the renovation work could soon be carried out. In 1958, VC Frankfurt hosted the German championship in the cycling track with great success. In 1966 the 56th UCI Track World Championships took place in the cycling track. For the first time, the program was expanded to include two more disciplines, the 1000 m time trial and the tandem race . Italy proved to be the dominant nation in these championships for the pros. The winning streak of French sprinter Daniel Morelon , who was eight times world champion and twice Olympic champion, began in Frankfurt . The short-term disciplines were dominated by the French drivers, whose coach was former world champion Louis Gérardin .

In 1970 the "Rock Circus" was organized, the first international music festival in Germany. a. the Byrds, Deep Purple, Chuck Berry and Black Sabbath.

After the cycling track was demolished in favor of an additional parking space for the Commerzbank-Arena, the bronze sculpture also disappeared during the construction work on the arena, so that today nothing is reminiscent of the building.

The artificial ice rink

In addition to the cycling track, an artificial ice rink was installed in the open space in the late 1950s, which was opened on December 1, 1960 with an ice hockey match between Eintracht Frankfurt and SG Nürnberg, followed by a major ice revue on December 11, 1960. Two ice rinks measuring 60 × 30 meters were available with a circumferential band from 1.20 m to 1.22 m high. This is where the Eintracht Frankfurt ice hockey team played their games until 1981.

The track was open every year from October to February, from 1982 the ice hockey games were relocated to the newly built ice rink in Frankfurt and the track was primarily used for public races. Since the demolition, there has only been a permanent ice rink in the ice rink in Frankfurt.

literature

  • Heike Risse: Early Modernism in Frankfurt am Main 1920–1933: Architecture of the twenties in Frankfurt a. M. ", p. 81ff, 1984
  • Werner Ruttkus , Wolfgang Schoppe , Hans-Alfred Roth : In the shine and shadow of the rainbow. A look back at the cycling world championships in racing, which have been held throughout Germany since 1895 , Berlin 1999
  • Sport- und Bäderbauten magazine, No. 6/1963, in it: “Kunsteisbahn Frankfurt”, Krammer Verlag Düsseldorf 1963.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Bauer: Frankfurter Waldstadion: 75 years of sports history, 1925-2000, p. 17
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Klötzer: "No dearer city than Frankfurt": small writings on Frankfurter Kulturgeschichte II, p. 192
  3. ^ Bauer, Thomas: Frankfurter Waldstadion: 75 years of sport history 1925-2000, Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 26
  4. ↑ http://www.vcfrankfurt.de/index.php/geschichte.html
  5. ↑ Kick-off 90 years ago. Frankfurt's largest sports facility is celebrating its birthday: from the Waldstadion to the Commerzbank-Arena. May 13, 2015
  6. ↑ Emil Hub on kunst-im-oefflichen-raum-frankfurt.de
  7. ↑ Boelsen, p. 7 (PDF; 969 kB)
  8. ↑ Artificial ice rink at the Waldstadion (1960 - 1981)